Mass merchandisers make wide use of displays utilizing perforated panel board and peg hooks. The hooks include an outwardly extending arm, typically formed of wire, on which a plurality of display products are suspended. A simplified and inexpensive form of such peg hook utilizes a pair of spaced apart, L-shaped lugs by which to engage the peg hook with openings in the perforated panel board. During installation the peg hook is tilted at an upward angle, to enable the normally vertical legs of the L-shaped lugs to be inserted through panel board openings, after which the hook is pivoted downward to its normal position on the panel board. Because display area on panel boards typically is tightly packed with display merchandise, the installation or removal of a particular hook from a product-laden panel can be very difficult. There often is insufficient room below a loaded peg hook to permit upward tilting of the hook beneath it, such that removal or insertion of a single hook may require substantial disturbance of a loaded display panel.
One solution to the above problem has involved forming the peg hook with a pivoting back plate, allowing the back plate to be tilted as necessary to enable the L-shaped lugs to be inserted through the panel board openings, while the main body of the hook remains in a more or less horizontal orientation. This is an acceptable solution to the installation issues, but adds extra cost to the production of the hook.
Another solution involves the use of a two-part hook, with a molded plastic back plate, formed with L-shaped lugs, which mounts a separate wire hook member. This arrangement allows the back plate to be tilted and inserted into the panel board before mounting of the display hook, so that minimal overhead clearance is not a problem. This arrangement also is acceptable in accommodating installation and removal of hooks from fully loaded panels, but has a disadvantage of requiring the handling of two parts.
A still further proposed solution involves the use of a back plate with four, rather than two, mounting lugs, with the lugs being of an inverted L configuration, with the vertical legs of the L being shorter than the diameter of the panel board openings and thus able to be inserted directly through the panel board openings without tilting the hook. After the lugs are inserted through the holes, the back plate is lowered, so that the four lugs engage the back of the panel below the panel board openings (instead of above the openings as is more typical). This arrangement also provides an acceptable way of installing a hook in a crowded display board, but has certain very significant disadvantages. If a loaded hook of this design is jostled upwardly from a point near the panel, the back plate may be displaced upwardly a short distance, allowing the hook to fall out of the openings and off of the display panel. In this respect, the inverted L-shaped lugs have necessarily short vertical portions. Otherwise, they cannot be inserted through the panel board openings, which typically are of one quarter inch diameter. Additionally, if such a hook is hit at or near the outer end of the wire, there is little or no xe2x80x9cgivexe2x80x9d in the hook and back plate, with respect to the panel on which it is mounted. This can result in injury to the customer or store personnel, in damage to the panel board, in damage to the hook, or combinations of the foregoing.
Pursuant to the invention, a new and improved form of straight-entry type hook is provided, which can be installed with a minimal and acceptable degree of upwardly tilting of the hook, yet which does not suffer from the disadvantages described above. The new hook is a one-piece device, comprising a back plate and an outwardly extending display hook fixed thereto, typically by welding. The back plate includes a pair of upper panel-engaging lugs of a generally inverted L-shaped configuration, with relatively short downwardly extending elements of the lugs, adapted to be inserted straight into the display panel openings and to be engaged with the back surface of the display panel by a short downward movement of the back plate after insertion of the lugs. Unlike prior devices of this general type, however, the device of the invention does not include a second pair of inverted L-shaped lugs along the bottom portion of the back plate, for engagement with the back surface of the display panel through a second set of panel openings. Instead, the device of the invention includes a pair of downwardly angled retaining elements, which extend through a lower pair of panel openings, but do not make locking engagement with the back surface of the panel. The retaining elements are positioned to significantly restrict the back plate against upward, dislodging movements, in the event the hook is bumped from below at a point near the back plate. However, if the hook element is bumped upwardly from a point at or near its outer end, the hook is free to tilt upwardly, so that injury or damage is not likely to result.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the inverted L-shaped upper lugs are angled slightly upwardly, for example, about 12 degrees from a perpendicular orientation with respect to the back plate. This allows the upper lugs of the back plate to somewhat loosely engage the display panel, after the lugs have been inserted through the panel openings and positioned to support the display hook. The retaining elements, angling downward from lower portions of the back plate, are spaced in appropriate distance from the inverted L-shaped lugs such that, if the hook is bumped upwardly from an inside position, near the back plate, upward movement of the back plate, which might otherwise dislodge the hook, is prevented by the retaining elements. However, if the hook is bumped upwardly from an outer end portion, the retaining elements can slide outwardly with respect to the panel openings in which they are inserted, allowing the entire hook assembly to tilt upwardly in response to the bump, to minimize or prevent injury or damage. The upward tilt of the inverted L-shaped lugs is also advantageous in that it efficiently accommodates an upward tilting of the hook in response to an upward bump against an outer portion of the hook.
For a further understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, and to the accompanying drawings.